What's not to like about James Potter?
by AshNox
Summary: Lily Evans POV with Bad Marauders.
1. Potions Class

.

James Potter isn't very nice. Sevy isn't very nice either but Sevy has had a terrible life. Sevy is kind and good and brave, but it is buried under a pile of misery and sadness that other people have weighed him down with.

.

He burnt James. And he smirked. That was the bad beginning.

.

They were in Potions.

Sevy was being edgy, but she hadn't noticed.

She was doing the lion's share of the potion and was focused on that. She thought he wanted her to do more, to practice, because usually he did everything. But he didn't.

.

"Bloody idiot!" James exclaimed angrily, hands rising up at his sides in annoyance as green slim dripped over his shoulder and down his back.

"Buberpus, Master Potter!" Slughorn chortled. "An interesting choice. Harmless in that state of course."

"I didn't put it on my bloody myself!" James yelled, livid.

Even his friends were laughing. He punched Little Peter as he stalked past, stripping off by the sink and snatching up the top shirt on a pile of old uniforms left there for the very purpose.

.

He's skinny, James Potter. She was watching him changing. You're allowed to do things like that, in the privacy of your own mind. She had found herself watching him a lot lately, when he wasn't watching her.

.

She was thinking how broad his shoulders looked and how lanky his frame. He looks very angular. His bones seemed bigger than Sevy. Faint muscles on his slim arms. Bigger hands. But then, James hadn't had to miss dinner most nights because of his terrible home life, had he?

.

He yanked on the second-hand shirt, still complaining loudly as he fastened the buttons, moaning that it was too small and then too big, although it was a perfect fit. She was watching his fingers fastening the buttons.

.

She was thinking how weird it was to watch someone dressing in the middle of class. She saw his hands freeze, the grumbling complaints cut to a silence that didn't interrupt the lesson. Then he screamed, a scream of pain. Not a yell, boyish and outraged, this was a scream... of agonizing pain.

.

Frantically his hands fumbled over the buttons again. He was making bad noises. Horrible shameless sounds, as Slughorn rushed over, and the class erupted in uproar.

.

It was Sirius that finally got the shirt off, slamming the professor out of the way and ripping it off James's body.

_As if he'd had lots of practice_, Sevy had said afterwards. And then he'd smirked.


	2. Hospital Wing

James's smooth white skin was gone, replaced with a sticky weeping mess of livid red, streaked with blood and orange liquid.

.

James has done some terrible things to Sevy.

Worse, probably.

Sevy has done stuff back.

But not like that.

.

She remembered years before Hogwarts she'd burnt her hand, how much it hurt. It hurt for weeks. She hoped Madame Pomfrey was making him comfortable, but magic never seemed to be devoted to relieving pain.

.

Sevy's not in trouble. Slughorn thinks some powdered Flamemaggots must have spilled onto the shirt. Sevy didn't even try to lie about it to her though. He was pleased. _Sirius next_, he said.

.

Sirius was in the Hospital Ward when she slipped inside. He was sitting at James's bedside in the dim light. He looked like a painting. Sirius often looked like he was in a painting, because he was very handsome, with lots of thick black hair and a, she supposed, perfect face. A perfectly flawless face and flawless everything. His eyes were a bit weird, pale like a lot of the pureblood wizards' were. But he was tall, and handsome, and perfect.

.

He wasn't perfect. He was an utter shit. An utter shit in pretty impressive packaging. He was adored by a vast number of girls, although he was actually very immature and nasty to most of them. The only remotely likable thing about Sirius Black was his love of his friends. Sevy said it was creepy and that he was gay, but Sevy would say that because Sevy didn't have many friends and was rather scared of 'laddish behaviour' in general. His dad was a monster. You couldn't blame him. It was hard to blame Sevy for doing bad things because bad things had happened to him his whole life.

.

It was easy to blame James and Sirius for being such utter bastards, because their lives were like perfect fantasies. They grew up in castles with House Elves wiping their bums for them and Hogwarts feasts served on their special family-branded silver dishes every night for tea.

.

Yes. Sevy had done something really bad now, but it was retaliation for years of really bad things. James deserved it. As much as anyone deserved it… And no one did deserve that. Which was why she'd come to the Hospital Wing. She'd brought asprin and paracatemol. Wizards are better at repairs than at pain-relief.

.

The high windows were black. Pools of light spread around the one occupied bed and the nurse's station. Sirius was sitting in James's pool of light, long legs crossed at the ankle, he was reading quietly out loud, the words lost in the big room. They still seemed pretty meaningless as she slipped across to him.

.

"Sirius?" She whispered. It was the first time she had ever used his first-name. Sirius stopped reading, silver eyes snapping off the page. "I haven't come to fight." She assured him, quietly. "I've brought some Muggle painkillers."

.

Sirius flung the book aside and hit her _in the face_.

"Sirius!" Peter screeched, falling off the end of the bed, trying to get a grip on him probably, possibly. It was hard to tell, when you had just been punched in the face, and whacked the back of your head as you hit the floor.

.

Blood spewed from her nose. It felt like it was on fire and had been hit with a engorging hex. Weirdly, all she could think, watching Sirius snarling nasty insults at her, was that this was what it was like to be a boy. Boys got punched in the face all the time. It was a sort of new feminism. And then she passed out.


	3. Morning

She didn't feel very feminist. She was tucked up in the bed next to James's, feeling tiny and pathetic. Sirius was still sitting by James's bedside, essentially between them, and Peter Pettigrew, who she vaguely remembered had appeared to try and hold Sirius off from attacking her on the floor, was sitting uneasily at the foot of James's bed.

.

The lights were even dimmer now, although bright moonlight shone through the high windows, giving them all a monochrome look. Sirius probably still looked like a painting, but she didn't move her eyes to see.

.

.

She woke to the indignity of Madame Pomfrey shoving a wand up her nose and casting a spell that blasted a slug's length of clotted blood into her stomach and cricked the cartilage back into shape. Sirius, now somewhere on her left side, watched as she lunged into a sitting position and tried to stop retching before she vomited.

.

Bright morning light filled the Hospital Ward and Madame Pomfrey glided back depositing trays of porridge and fruit in front of each of her patients.

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"…So Evans." James said, sat up in the next bed and wrapped from waist to neck in bandages and purple slime. "Sirius said you brought me Muggle painkillers. Can I have a look?"

"No, Potter. You can't." She said, calmly. "Because I dropped them when he punched me in the face."

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There was a long pause. "…_Sirius_!" James screeched. "_Did you punch Lily Evans in the face!?_"

"So what if I did?" Sirius asked, appearing through the curtain on her far side.

"_You what_…! _Oh my God_! I am _so_ sorry, Evans!" He sounded really as outraged as you would hope anyone would be to hear of a boy punching a girl in the face. "I don't care what you did to me, _that is appalling_!"

"I didn't _do_ anything to you." Lily pointed out. "I was coming to give you some Muggle painkillers, because potions and spells never seem to focus on relieving the pain."

"And that is _so nice_ of you." James assured her. "They would probably have been rubbish, but I am in so much pain and I would have loved to see them. I could have taken them in to Muggle Studies."

"You take Muggle Studies?" Lily asked. "You miss Wednesday Lunchtimes to take Muggle Studies?"

"Yes. I'm very interested in Muggles." James said. "And I have to say it is so much easier to talk to you without my glasses on. I'm not getting all flustered by your cuteness. I bet I look great as well. I wish I'd thought of this sooner."

.

"You look more like you with your glasses on." Lily said, wondering if Sirius was still standing behind her back. "And Muggle painkillers are pretty good. I still use them."

"I'll use them then!" James agreed, keenly.

"_If they don't react with the potions and kill you._" Sirius, still behind her back, said. "_If that isn't what they want._"

.

"I wouldn't want that." Lily assured_ James_. "I think this is awful."

"_What? That your boyfriend has burnt half James's skin off_?" Sirius growled angrily.

"Slughorn said something had spilled off the shelves. Ground Firemaggot powder."

"_You know your squib of a boyfriend did this_."

"I'm sure my boyfriend didn't do anything to your boyfriend, Black." Lily said, trying to sound cocky and not as intimidated as she felt. Sirius laughed, a hard mirthless laugh.

.

"Your boyfriend is _dead_." He assured her, all the beauty of his face destroyed with utter rage.

"_Sirius! Stop it!_" James yelled, appalled. "_Sirius, shut up! Stop it! Say you're bloody sorry! Why the hell did you hit a girl?! You're twice her size!_"

"And she could be pregnant and then you'd be punching the innocent baby as well." Peter piped up, from the foot of the bed.

.

"Why didn't _you_ stop him!?" James rounded on Peter angrily.

"Because he's twice the size of me, as well!" Little Peter pointed out in alarm. "And it was very unexpected. I did stop him, once I realized what he was doing."

"Stopped him doing what?!" James demanded, attention swinging back and forth between the three of them.

"…Kicking her on the floor." Peter said, nervously.

"Screw you, Peter." Sirius said, and disappeared behind the curtain again.

.

"Agh! God! I am so sorry!" James said again, clutching his hair in horror. "Lily! I mean, Evans! I'm so sorry! Are you alright?! Your beautiful face! I'll punch his face…" He blinked at her blindly. "…You look all fuzzy." He added, uneasily. "Do you look alright? Has Pomfrey fixed your lovely face? You're so pretty, Evans. I _will_ punch him. I will punch his lights out!"

"It's bad enough being punched by someone who hates you." Lily pointed out. "I don't expect you to punch your best friend."


	4. Remus

"…I'm sorry, Evans." Sirius said, reappearing from the far side of the curtain. He didn't sound remotely sorry. Or look it. He sounded like his mother had just ordered him to return and apologise.

.

Lily nodded. She didn't really know what to say to that. "I didn't do anything at all, Black." She said, as firmly as she could.

"Yes, you did." Sirius assured her, silver eyes darkening. "You think we don't know Snivels did this?"

"Yes. I think you don't know who did this, if anyone 'did' it. Professor Slughorn said…"

"_He did it_." Sirius interrupted her. "And he did it because you're always looking at James, and your pathetic excuse for a boyfriend hates it."

"I am not 'always looking at James'!" Lily said, aghast. "And you are always doing horrible stuff to Sevy! Even if he had done it, which he didn't, it would be because of the horrible things you do to him!"

.

"Lily Evans _looks_ at me?" James queried, in excited disbelief.

"You're making _your_ boyfriend jealous, Potter." Lily told him.

"I'd rather be gay than homophobic." Sirius snapped.

"I'm not gay." James assured her. "Totally not gay. Do you 'look at me' like that Lily?... Not homophobic either." He added.

"Why would I 'look at you' like that?" Lily asked. "And I'm not homophobic, Sirius. I'd rather you were gay than someone who hits girls."

"I'm a feminist." Sirius shrugged. "And yes, she does look at you '_like that', _Prongs. And who can blame her, with a greasy cockroach like Snivels for a boyfriend."

.

"There's nothing feminist about hitting girls." James said. "Why would you hit Lily Evans, Sirius? Why would you do that to me?"

"Because they did this to you, you idiot. You've got no skin left on your torso."

"But she's a _girl_! She's all little and pathetic!"

"Have you seen me in Charms or Dark Arts?" Lily asked him. "I'd hex both your faces off."

"So?" James asked. "That's with a wand! Putting hexes on girls is funny. Muggle punching isn't funny. And doing anything to Lily Evans, Sirius, is _not_ okay."

"Freak!" Sirius grimaced and went back behind the curtain.

.

"I am so _so_ sorry about him." James said again. "I am supposed to be keeping really still, but I will knock him into next week as soon as I am out of this bed."

"That's fine." Lily assured him, getting out of bed herself. "Little-and-Pathetic will deal with it herself."

.

She had just noticed her wand on the bedside table. Feeling its familiar loveliness she pushed the curtain aside and stepped through, finding Remus Lupin, covered in bloody bandages and looking like he'd gone ten rounds with Sirius, who was sitting on the bed, holding one of his heavily bandaged hands.

.

Remus was surprisingly not unconscious. He was hissing hoarsely at Sirius, about punching her. His bottom lip was split in a clean line that broke open with every word. It looked so painful Lily cringed.

.

"...Remus, stop speaking." She said, moving as quickly as possible to the far side of the bed, as far from Sirius as she could get. "What happened to you? Severus didn't do this, did he?"

"No." Remus said, turning to look at her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She noticed Sirius was still holding Remus's hand. Remus did as well, as he snatched it away with a frown.

.

"But what's _happened_ to you?" Lily asked.

"I can't remember." He said. "...I was in the forest."

"Why? Oh _God,_ you look bad!" Lily exclaimed. "Is there anything I can do?"

"No. Thank you."

"Just don't speak." Lily said again. "Remus, you should rest. I'm fine. James will be fine." She looked at Remus's bruised bloody face and Sirius's pale face. "…You thought me and Severus had done this, didn't you?" She said.

"No." Sirius said. "What you did to James..."

"_Yes_." Remus interrupted. "Yes, he did. But it's still inexcusable to hit a girl. I was unconscious, so Sirius didn't know what had happened to me, or If James would be alright… _Still inexcusable_." He said again, to Sirius.

"I'm sorry." Sirius said again, silver eyes looking across the bed at her. Remus sunk back onto the pillows, looking so tired and damaged that Lily wanted to take hold of his hand as well. Blood had soaked through the bandages on the tips of ever finger.

"You were obviously really upset, Sirius." Lily said, pulling her eyes off Remus. "But I didn't do anything to James or Remus."

"Neither of you did anything to James?" Remus whispered.

"…James and Sirius are always doing things to Severus." Lily stammered uneasily. "But Slughorn said it was Firemaggot Powder. It fell off a shelf… Remus. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"You can go away." Sirius said, fiercely. Lily looked across the bed at him, but Remus appeared to have gone to sleep and didn't say anything else, so Lily did quietly go back through the curtain.

.

.

"How is he?" James asked, watching her expectantly.

"Really hurt." Lily told him. "Something attacked him in the forest."  
"Gosh. I wonder what?" Peter said, setting up a game of chess for James on his bed.

"Something nasty." Lily said. "He's still bleeding."

"Tell your boyfriend _he_'ll be bleeding when we catch up with him." Peter suggested.

"_I_ know it wasn't you, Lily." James offered. Lily stared at both of them, and at the curtained cubical. And then she hurried back into the school.


	5. Interesting Symptoms

"Lupin looked terrible, Sevy." Lily said. Again. Sevy's face tighten with annoyance.

"My heart bleeds." He muttered, tracing notes from a Potions book for both their homework.

"You can't dislike Lupin." Lily pointed out. She was sitting on the desk next to his book, because Slughorn had been called away. "He hasn't got a bad bone in his body."

"He's their _best friend_." Sevy said, without looking up. "If he's stupid enough to wander into the Forbidden Forest I have nothing but quiet amusement for the idiot's predicament. I just wish luck did run in three's and Black was with him."

.

Lily nodded. She hadn't told Sevy that Sirius had hit her. Madame Pomfrey's wand up the nose trick had fixed her up, right as rain, and telling him would only make the situation worse. She was actually rather frightened that Sevy _could_ do something so awful to James. She slightly wished he'd done it to Sirius instead, but just imagining it and hearing James's screams of pain in her memory made her feel sick. She was quite sure didn't wish that on anyone. Even Sirius Black.

.

"Why do you hate Potter more than Black?" Lily asked him. Sevy was counting clockwise stirs and left her waiting. She was thinking about Sirius announcing that she 'looked' at James Potter. She did look at James sometimes, because he was an utter stalker, as well as a show-off and a bully. Not because she was checking him out. Let's be honest, if she just cared about what boys look like she'd be 'looking' at Sirius himself, wouldn't she?

.

"Do _you_ hate Black more than Potter?" Sevy asked, starting to count out tiny dried eggs no bigger than grains of sand.

"Vastly more." Lily said at once. "Potter thinks he's being funny, mostly. Black's just nasty and mad."

"Black is 'dogged'." Sevy said, sweeping the eggs into his hand and scattering them carefully over the surface of the potion. "He does what Potter wants. Always has. He's pathetic. He's a sidekick."

"I hate Black more." Lily said again. She wished Sirius _was_ a bit more pathetic, rather than frightening. Sevy was once again rhythmically swirling the simmering liquid, counting under his breath.

.

"…So tell me about Lupin." He said, unexpectedly. Lily hesitated, thinking for a moment about how hurt Remus had looked, all bruised and bloody.

"He looked in a really bad way." She said. Sirius had been holding Remus's hand. She should tell Sevy that. Ways to mock Sirius cheered Sevy up no end. "…He had bandages all over his hands." She said, instead. "And there was blood soaking through on all his fingertips. It looked horrible."

.

Sevy glanced up at her with a thoughtful frown. "Go on." He said but Lily didn't.

"Black was with him." She said, instead.

"You've already mentioned that. And Remus said he'd been attacked, in the forest? That's weird."

"Hardly. It's full of horrible things."

"Very True but not things that _hold you down and rip your fingernails off_." Sevy said. "And why hadn't Pomfrey dealt with the bleeding?"

"She had. He was bandaged up."  
"But still bleeding? As if she couldn't heal the cuts? That's interesting. '_Cuts that can't be healed_' is interesting."

"Not very." Lily said, pushing it out of her mind and knotting her hair before peering into the cauldron.

.

"…Lupin was brought in at some point in the very early morning?" Sevy added. "With cuts that couldn't be easily healed. And he'd torn his own fingernails off...? Strange." He said. "Strange and interesting."

.

.

Remus was by the fire in the common room. The bandages were off but he still looked pale, and his fingernails were well hidden out of sight, in the stretched sleeves of his jumper. He looked cold, although the fire was blazing in retaliation to the lashing rain outside the window. James and Sirius were writing something at the nearest desk that was unlikely to be homework. Lily just hoped it wasn't something horrible they were planning to do to Sevy... Or her.

.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, sitting down across the fire place from Remus.

"Fine really." He said. He didn't look very fine. Remus was often ill. He was quiet and clever, but there was some sort of trouble at home that often kept him from school. And he always looked rather run down. He seemed nice, though. Despite who his friends were. Remus always seemed nice. Like Lily he was a Prefect and sometimes they patrolled together but she doubted he'd be doing much patrolling tonight. "…I've got so much work to catch up on." He added, ruefully. "Shouldn't be sitting in front of the fire."

"It must be really hard to hold a quill, with your fingers so hurt." Lily said, kindly. Remus smiled, moving them out of sight again.

"My friends help me." He shrugged it off. Lily glanced at 'the friends'. Two heads of black hair almost touching as they poured over some sort of map.

"I'm glad James's alright." She added. Remus looked up at her with surprisingly golden eyes. Who even has golden eyes, Lily pondered.

"Yes." He agreed. "We were all frightened for him."


	6. The Werewolf

James Potter was an uncontrollable show off, with mad hair, wire framed glasses and the ability to see other human beings as nothing more than an extension of his toy box. Lanky and agile, he was the Gryffindor chaser and consistently top in most of his subjects. A spoilt only child he was matched only in his awfulness by his best friend, Sirius Black.

.

Sirius Black was as blue-blooded as wizards came. Elegant and vain, his entire life lay planned out before him since birth, a well-chosen marriage, vast reserves of wealth, respect and authority. He was the eldest son and heir of the Nobel and Most Ancient House of Black. Blessed with a haughty beauty yet cursed with the legendary Black 'blood-madness' that twisted like ivy in the branches of his inbred family tree.

.

But of the four marauders, Remus Lupin had always appeared to be the anomaly. He was generally much liked by his peers and teachers, with a well-cultivated image as a compassionate and exceptionally gentle boy who was foolishly loyal to his clearly obnoxious companions.

.

Remus Lupin was clever. And he had a secret.

.

He was probably not by his nature cruel but he was, by necessity, a practiced liar, frighteningly self-controlled and thanks to the bite of a werewolf, once every twenty eight days, he was a psychopathic killer. This was a secret condition that had destroyed his childhood and could leave him an isolated social outcast, where it not a well-guarded secret, known only to his three closest friends. Lily hoped that because of this, and only because of this, his loyalty lay totally with, _and only with_, the Marauders.

.

Remus didn't know that Lily also knew what he was as a Werewolf. Sevy, Lily was reasonably certain, hadn't worked it out yet. Although he would, if he thought a bit more about Remus, rather than obsessing over his nastier friends.

.

Lily was starting to get rather obsessed with Remus Lupin. It had begun because she'd thought Remus was lovely. She'd always thought it. He hung around with a bunch of vile bullies, but he himself was a Prefect, which suggested Professor Dumbledore liked him. He missed lunch sometimes to help first years find their way around the library and he spent the hours when James and Sirius were practicing Quidditch, helping younger students with their homework.

.

He happened to be handsome as well as exceptionally nice. He had those mysterious scars that ran across his cheek and neck, but his face was very cute. He did have eyes the colour of amber, which were rather lovely, and he was always nice, to everyone.

.

.

After the night in the hospital wing when Sirius Black had hit her in the face, Lily had been so worried about Remus and Sevy's comments about something 'holding him down in the forest and ripping off his finger-nails' had haunted her into her nightmares.

.

When she'd seen his fingers without the bandages, she'd felt even worse. Lily was useless at research, so she'd compiled a profile of Remus's ailments and sent it to her sister, who was a Muggle and a nurse in training. If Remus was ill with any normal disease Tuney would know. Her owl had brought the reply the following morning...

.

.

_Dear Lily,_

_Are you joking_?

He _has scars where he was bitten by 'something', he vanishes every full moon (yes, those are the dates you gave me for him being 'sick') and has ripped his own fingernails off._

_Is this a joke, Lily? Are you honestly trying to tell me there are Werewolves at your school as well as Witches and Wizards?_

_Have you got any Vampires there as well?!_

_You freak!_

_Love Tuney._

_P.S. If Vampires are real I'd check Sevy over very carefully with some garlic and Holy water._

.

.

Remus was sitting almost opposite her as she read the letter. This was because Potter always tried to get as close to her as possible. Remus was eating a slice of toast that Sirius had just buttered for him. She had assumed Sirius had buttered it because of Remus's messed up fingernails but now she wondered if it was because all the cutlery was made of silver and maybe Remus couldn't touch it. He glanced up, honey coloured eyes catching her staring. Could gentle Remus Lupin really be a Werewolf? And yet, with a name like that was their really any doubt?


	7. The Boils

The fourth Marauder was Peter Pettigrew, a small creepy boy who sweated a lot and clearly had no moral values what-so-ever. Quick to join in when someone was being bullied, he was frequently the butt of his friends' jokes, which he endued, desperate to remain part of their clique.

.

James and Peter were unpleasant and Sirius was cruel and slightly disturbing, but Remus Lupin was sitting in front of the Common Room fire, writing their set Potions essay entitled 'Burning Blister Boils, How to Cause and Cure them'.

If, as Lily now did, you presumed Remus's image was a carefully cultivated illusion, he was quite interesting to watch. Lily had long considered Remus Lupin a nice person and a friend.

Not only had she deeply admired him, but she had liked him rather a lot. Remus listened. He had appeared to care.

She was watching him in the Common Room, wondering what other students saw when they looked at him. He was lying on his stomach, on the dusty hearth, wearing faded jeans and a jumper the same colour as his eyes; eyes hidden, as ever, beneath a mop of sun-streaked brown hair. He was cute as well, in the face. Triple scar lines drawn high across his right cheek, suggested he was the victim of some cruel attack, but gave no hint that he was also the perpetrator. When he saw you were watching him, and he _did_ always know you were watching, he would look over, eyes lifted to glance through his fringe for a moment, a hint of a smile, but then always back to his essay.

.

Half the students in the Gryffindor Common Room have boils. Horrible bulging red pustules, that throb painfully and look grotesque. The Marauders do not. They have smirks, and giggles that would put the bitchiest little girls to shame.

.

Remus Lupin did not smirk or giggle. He raised his eyes to gaze reproachfully through his fringe at his friends. Sirius stopped his sniggering and came instead to sit quietly beside him. But Sirius isn't writing his own essay on how to cause and cure boils. Neither is James Potter, or indeed Peter Pettigrew. All three will need to copy their essays from Remus.

.

So Remus Lupin is the only Marauder who currently _knows _how to cause half of Gryffindor Tower to be cursed with pus-filled blistering faces. So Lily wonders who that reproachful gaze is really for. For the other students? Does Remus Lupin watch his back so carefully that he still tries to convince the world that he is sweet, and good, and kind? Yes, undoubtedly he does. But Lily is wondering if the reproach is really for Sirius, himself. Sirius is now sitting with him in the fireplace, with a single pale hand hovering over the parchment, so that every flick of Remus's quill tickles around on his palm and between his long elegant fingers. Does Remus Lupin want Sirius Black to believe he is sweet and good and kind, as well?

.

How unimaginably annoying must that be? Could Lily keep her temper if someone had their hand squashed over the top of her quill_ while she tried to write an essay_? She doesn't doubt for a second that Remus will keep his temper. He has Sirius's undivided attention, which she is pretty certain is what he wants. The Black Heir will one day have the power and social standing to secure a Werewolf's safety. Remus, Lily increasingly suspects, is cultivating Sirius's friendship for this purpose.

.

James Potter, is stuck on the sofa with Peter Pettigrew, bored now of laughing at the boil damaged faces, bored like the spoilt only child he is, of not being the center of attention, the center of the World, the Universe.

.

Groping for some way to resolve the problem he snatches up a cushion, and launches it across the room as hard as he can. It looks like he is trying to knock his best friend into the Common Room fire. Lily can't help but wonder what would have happened if he'd achieved this, if he had managed to cause Sirius to over balance and shove even a single hand into the red hot coals.

.

This does not happen. The cushion hits Sirius on the side of the head, knocking him into the stone surround. James and Peter both cheer in delight, like the stupid little boys that they are. Sirius's hand has knocked the quill and put a long dark line through Remus's essay, but Sirius hasn't noticed, jumping to his feet and launching the cushion back at the sofa.

.

In moments the Common Room has descended to chaos. Drinks spilt, cups smashed, chess sets and card games upturned, homework ruined. The Marauders cushion fight amongst themselves until the Prefects try to calm them down, then immediately unite their efforts and attack anyone not in their own ranks, moving from cushions, to books, to any projectile the Common Room has to offer, until everyone is driven up into the dormitories or flees the tower.


	8. Reflected Sunlight

They are all back on the sofa's when the other students next venture out. The Sixth form Prefects are already quietly cleaning up the mess. Remus is curled on the end of the golden sofa, legs tucked beneath him, re-writing his essay, his parchment spread out on the sofa's padded arm.

.

Sirius Black has the length of the sofa to himself. Sirius Black has silver eyes. He watches the girls creeping back down from their dormitories. He watches them, but he doesn't like them much. He used to. He used to take great delight in seeing what he could convince girls to do for him, which was almost anything. He used to like to see just how much he could drive them to. He liked his friends egging him on. He liked how excited they were, and how very jealous. He doesn't do it anymore. He just lies on the sofa, watching the girls come back from their dormitories. But he doesn't like them much.

.

James and Peter like them, but they are still bouncing from the fighting and too happy to think about girls now. It will take sixty seconds or so. Most of the girls have boils, but eventually they will notice one they haven't hexed ugly and they will get even louder and more obnoxious, trying to impress her, until they notice one that they wants to impress more.

.

James Potter does impress quite a lot of girls. More than Peter does, with his fat clammy hands and his creepiness. But Remus impresses vastly more than both of them; putting up with his obnoxious friends, standing determinedly as a voice of reason when their insanity goes too far, and being nice and helpful when they aren't around. But if Remus likes the girls, in anything other than his gentle caring way, he is not letting on. His cards, as ever, are against his chest.

.

Also, Lily thinks, Remus is a Prefect. He should be helping clear up the mess with them. But he just sits curled on the end of Sirius's sofa, writing the essay for his friends to copy. The Marauders don't clear up their own messes.

.

.

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The Marauders are about to discover that they are not the only ones who can give people boils. It was Lily's own trembling hand that slipped the potion into the jug of pumpkin juice at the breakfast table. It had to be the jug. She knew that they were risking random casualties, but it still had to be done, because to get it near an individual cup would have been impossible.

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They arrived late, removing seated first years from the place they wanted, at the top of the table. Sirius is looking particularly mad or Lily is particularly terrified. Her heart is leaping about like a trapped rabbit. Her ears are totally trained on them, trying to cut out the racket of four houses of students breakfasting.

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James finally demands a glass of juice for himself and Sirius. Sirius is playing with his cutlery. No, he is _transfixed _by his cutlery, moving his knife slowly back and forth so the light from the enchanted ceiling flicks back and forth across his face. Back and forth, back and forth, he had been doing it since he sat down.

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Pettigrew serves Sirius each time he serves James, ordered by the later. Slightly edgily he piles the toast and bowls of cereal around Sirius and the knife that he is staring at.

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James had eaten four bowls of cereal and seven slices of toast. Lily knows this, not because she is counting but because four bowls and seven plates are now hampering Sirius's ability to use the polished knife to flick sunlight up into his own silver eyes.

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Sirius Black has pureblood madness, because of his utterly inbred family tree. The girls that are gazing at him (and there is currently a good dozen of them) are mad as well, mad because of teenage hormones. Do they not care that he has been flicking reflected sunlight back and forth into his own lovely face for the last half hour? Lily wonders if that lovely face will distract anyone enough from the madness within him, to keep him out of St. Mungos when he is forced into the real world, without the other Marauders. Maybe Remus will keep him sane, in exchange for Sirius keeping him out of the Werewolf Camps, or starving on the streets like the social outcast he really is. Lily is actually increasingly sure that is why Remus does cultivate his friendship with the insane Black heir.

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Drink the pumpkin juice, Sirius.

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It does not look likely that Sirius will drink the pumpkin juice. Remus, who is sitting beside him has eaten a slice of toast and a lot of black coffee. He either looks exhausted because of something werewolf related, or because Sirius and James have kept him up all night. The moon is nowhere near full, so Lily suspects the latter.

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The gluttony has started to show on James now. He is slowing on his fourth bowl of cereal. He has noticed that Sirius is being mad and ordered him twice to stop playing with the knife, already, but Sirius has not noticed and not one of the Marauders thinks it would _actually_ be a good idea to disrupt the insanity.

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They have finished their own jug of Pumpkin juice and Peter is dispatched to steal more from other students. She watch him take the boil-contaminated jug and head back to the Marauders, pouring a glass for James, and then Sirius, and then himself.

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If you watch The Marauders as closely as Lily does, you would know that Peter never serves Remus when _James_ grandly orders drinks to be poured. If _Sirius_ orders it (or even if Sirius is watching rather than being utterly insane), Remus will be served as well. But if it is James's order, and Sirius is _not_ looking, Peter will never fill Remus's glasses. It is Peter's little rebellion; so that Remus never forgets that he, like Peter, is just a hanger on. Today this is going to go massively in Remus's favour.

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Sirius now has three full glasses of pumpkin juice. The contaminated one is nearest to his hand, but Lily doesn't think he is going to drink any of them. Most of all they want the beautiful vain Sirius Black to drink it. Please drink the pumpkin juice, she wills him, please...


	9. Sirius is very mad

Slughorn, Potions Professor, bumbling and slimier than Peter Pettigrew, has started a stroll up the Gryffindor table. Using his own take on charming, he accosts one pupil after another. A flutter of activity ensues at the Marauder's end of the table, as all three consciously-present Marauders know that it will not go well if Slughorn demands Sirius's attention when he is clearly 'otherwise engaged'.

.

James, has muttered Sirius's name a couple of times but Sirius, like some deranged kitten, follows the flashes of light and is definitely not hearing. The light makes his eyes flash each time it hits them, and for a moment his down-turned face is illuminated. He is actually and genuinely beautiful.

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Sometimes, when Sirius hasn't done anything really nasty for a length of time, Lily feels sorry for him, because she doesn't think any of it is really Sirius's fault. He follows James's lead as much as Peter does. James just likes him more... But she still wishes he'd drink the pumpkin juice and get a taste of his own medicine.

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Sometimes she feels sorry for Peter, who is pathetic and repulsive. While unattractive those are not qualities anybody wishes on themselves. it must be horrible having to be creepy Peter.

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She doesn't ever feel sorry for James. She absolutely loathes him. James is going to drink the pumpkin juice. The only thing that could stop him, is if Sirius does something really insane, in the next five minutes...

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James say's Sirius's name again, slightly louder, then decides he doesn't fancy being the one to break the trance, and orders Peter onto it. Trembling, Peter peers at Sirius for a long time before stuttering his name and gingerly putting a hand over Sirius's, to still the knife.

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There is a moment when the knife is still. It isn't obvious if Sirius is still trying to flick it, but he is still looking down at it. Peter is trying to explain, in a whisper so frantic milky spit sprays the side of Sirius's face. He tries to explain that Slughorn is coming and will want to talk to him, because he is friends with Sirius's parents.

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Sirius blinks. Lily thinks he has made his eyes sore by not blinking for so long, because now sudden sparkling tears well on their surface.

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With no warning he snatches the knife up and embeds it point down through Peter's skin and the table. There is an audible gasp, which shows how many girls are _still _watching him.

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Peter maybe knew what to expect. He had got his hand almost clear, just the thin skin right at the edge of his hand is pinned down, but it is still a knife, right through his hand, at the breakfast table.

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James laughs, nervously, yanking the knife out and wrapping a napkin around the bloody cut, shoving Peter's hand back at him. Now James also tries to explain to Sirius about the teacher, who is now only a few seats from them. Lily is not sure if James appreciates how totally Sirius is not listening to him. James doesn't notice much, unless it has breasts, but he has known Sirius since childhood. They're second or third cousins.

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James, bless him, offers Sirius the contaminated pumpkin juice, and then the toast, removing another knife discreetly as he does so.

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Sirius picks up a spoon, looking at it thoughtfully. Giving up, James considers Peter, who is still bleeding and clutching his hand, then orders Remus to sort Sirius out while James immediately accosts Slughorn himself, to buy Remus time.

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Glancing around the room Remus kneels up on the bench, moves Sirius's hair from his ear, and starts whispering something to him. Maybe it is a spell. Maybe it is sweet nothings or hard core filth. Lily has no idea, although she suspects it is _not_ a direct order to pull himself together. She watches Sirius, head tilted, listening. James rattles on, enthusiastic and bracingly to Slughorn. Peter bleeds into the napkin. Remus whispers.

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Unable to keep Slughorn any longer (and James probably deserves a prize for the time he has kept Slughorn talking), the professor turns to Sirius. Remus drops back into his seat, an error, as Sirius immediately swings round to find him instead.

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"_Slughorn!_" Remus urges, catching Sirius's hand and turning him back. The professor chuckles indulgently at them both. He hasn't noticed Peter's bleeding hand. He hasn't noticed Peter at all. He is only really interested in Sirius, because he's the heir of the snooty House of Black. Like everyone, Slughorn likes Remus Lupin. They chat. Sirius agrees with occasional nods or murmurs about the essay, which he may or may not have copied by now.

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Sirius looks at Slughorn in the same slightly transfixed way he has been watching the knife. He is still _actually holding hands _with Remus Lupin, at the breakfast table. But it's Sirius Black, so no one say's anything about it.

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Slughorn reminds them to attend his potions club on Friday evening, and heads off to the Ravenclaw table. James laughs in relief, and punches Peter's good arm when Peter isn't quick enough to join in. Peter looks blanched. He is the first of the four to take a long deep swig of the poisoned Pumpkin juice. James almost immediately joins him, gulping; grinning toothily at his stunning ability to down a glass without pausing for breath.

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This leaves Sirius a matter of minutes to take a mouthful, before they realize something is wrong. If the fates will just be kind, Lily thinks, and obligingly Remus uses his free hand, because _yes _his other is still being held, and passes Sirius the boil-poisoned pumpkin juice.

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Sirius takes a mouthful, with an audience. Remus and James are both watching him. Countless girls watch him constantly. Lily's genius best friend Sevy, manufacture of the tasteless version of the boil-inflicting potion, and Lily herself are of course also watching.

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Sirius takes a good mouthful. Lily looks across the hall for Sevy and their eyes meet. _They got the Marauders_. Sevy's thin lips curl into a secretive smile. Shining black eyes melt into a single wink before he turns back to his breakfast.

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They both wait.


	10. Chapter 10

Lily knows it has worked when James suddenly burst out in hysterical laughter. It is so loud and jarring that Sirius finally looks round, his own eyes catching on Peter's face, and he too starts to giggle uncontrollably.

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Clutching his bleeding hand to his chest, Peter stares back fearfully, before lifting his other hand to feel the angry red bumps covering his face. James is laughing so hard he looks like he'll fall onto the floor. Sirius is increasingly hysterical. Remus has the good sense to feel his own face, and although he finds it as smooth as ever, he is first to rise from the table, his eyes moving back and forth between his friends as the red pustules explode violently out of James's skin. He drags Sirius at once to his feet, and the four of them flee the hall, hopefully scarlet with embarrassment beneath their covering of spots.

.

.

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The Marauders have enemies. They have plenty. Lily imagines they are working through a list as she is pretty certain that they don't know who covered them in boils.

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Unfortunately Sevy is on that list and The Marauders have found them in the Owlery. The Owlery is Lily and Sevy's secret meeting place, every Saturday morning. There is no way the Marauders have arrived here by chance and only Remus knows. _Only_ Remus, probably in the whole school.

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Why, Lily wonders, did she ever think she could trust Remus Lupin with her secrets? And frankly, why the hell does Remus think he can betray that trust so flippantly, when she knows the biggest secret of all, that he is not mild mannered and sweet, but a homicidal werewolf. _You are playing with fire, Remus, she thinks bitterly. You are throwing stones about in your big glass house_.

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The Marauders are very angry. They don't know who covered them all in pus-filled blisters, in the middle of the Great Hall, so they are visiting their retribution on anyone they think likely. They had, wrongly, assumed it was a Gryffindor, because it was Gryffindors that they used the potion on first. And they were sitting at their own house table when it had happened. There are more than enough students in their own house that hate their guts.

.

Now they are broadening their list. Sevy is in Slytherin. They have made his life a living hell since the first day he came to school. There is no reason. They are just cruel bullies.

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"Hiding, Snivels?" James asks, keeping his wand pointing at Sevy's face. Sevy doesn't like fighting. His dad was a bully. He pretends he's not scared of the Marauders, but he is. It makes him feel unmanly and pathetic to be so frightened of them, but you'd have to be stupid not to be frightened of four nasty boys against one frightened one. The bulling has gone on for years. It is the biggest reason that Lily hates the Marauders.

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The Owlery is not a good place to be caught, either. It is isolated and high up. All four of them have their wands out. Sirius is looking entirely focused on the task at hand, which bullying usually does for him. Even Remus is looking dangerous.

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Sevy say's... "It's not my fault someone uglified your boyfriend, Potter."

"We haven't done anything." She adds. Once out of her mouth that doesn't sound useful either.

"I think you protest too much." Sirius said softly, wand moving lazily over to her. He is looking saner today. They've finally managed to clear up all the spots.

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He has good hair, Sirius... Lily and Sevy were talking about hair, when the Marauders burst in... Sevy has nice hair. It's long and black, but it wants to be lank. He could wash it every day and it would still try to grease up on him. Lily's hair is untamable, so she has plenty of sympathy... James Potter's hair is as black as Sevy's. It's also as wild as hers, but James thinks that's cool. James Potter thinks everything about James Potter is cool.

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Sirius's hair would put the vainest girls to shame. She think he conditions. Actually, no she doesn't think _he_ conditions. She thinks James or Remus conditions it for him, and brushes it out for him as well. Her money's on Remus, or maybe the House Elves, because neither James nor Remus look well enough acquainted with hairbrushes themselves... Maybe Peter does it... Lily hates Peter now... Lily hates the way he leers at her... She thinks he might turn out to be a murderer or a rapist, given a couple of years.

.

Sirius is arguing loudly with Sevy and trying desperately to thinking about the variations of their hair is doing little to block it out, but getting involved would definitely make it worse. If the worst Sirius is going to do is shout, Lily thinks she should probably let him go for it. He stabbed Peter's _hand_ through to the table and didn't notice he'd done anything wrong.

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Her hand is gripping her wand so tightly it hurts, but she doesn't know what she thinks she can do against all four Marauders. She knows that if she does anything she'll make it worse, all round, but watching them hurting Sevy and doing nothing makes her feel sickened.


End file.
